Best Westerns (not Hotels)
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Just killing sometime here while I’m getting bored with the Olympics. Thought I’d rank my 5 favorite western movies and see what the consensus on them is here.
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Tombstone, Starring Val Kilmer and Kurt Russell with an awesome supporting cast of Sam Elliot and Billy Bob Thornton. Val Kilmer’s Doc holiday steals the show in this classic tale of the Earp brothers shootout and vendetta ride again Cochise county cowboys.
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The Jack Bull, Staring John Cusack and John Goodman. Covers the early stages of America becoming a nation of laws and how far one man will go for justice no matter the cost. A very underrated HBO original flim.
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Legends of the Fall, starring Anthony Hopkins and Brad Pitt. A family in rural Montana must learn to cope with the world at war, loss and ultimately redemption. Great movie one of the first to put Brad Pitt on the map and has one of the greatest quotes in cinema history that is true more today than ever. “Indians! Indians were the issue in those days. I can assure you, gentlemen, there is nothing quite so grotesque as the meeting of a child with a bullet; or an entire village slaughtered while sleeping. That was the Government’s resolution of that particular issue and I have seen nothing in its behavior since then that would persuade me that it has gained either in wisdom, common sense, or humanity.” Colonel Ludlow
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True Grit, I’m talking the original John Wayne 1969 film. A 14 year old gets help avenging the murder of her dad with help from a US Marshall. The 2010 remake isn’t bad but you can’t have a western list with out John Wayne.
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Dances with wolves, starring Kevin Costner as Lieutenant John Dunbar a union solider that while escaping death decides to spend life on the Kansas frontier befriending indigenous people and animals. I probably watched this movie at least once a week as a kid. One of the few movies we owned with our 4 channels.
Feel free to chime in what western movie you enjoy or any movie you think we all should see.
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The spacing never shows up right on my phone from preview to the actual post.
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Deadwood is the best Western show I have ever seen. Ian Mcshane’s Al Swearingen is the absolute star.
Disclaimer: this show is not for the faint of heart, very raw and explicit.
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Recently watched the Quick and rhe Dead, and while it should absolutely not make your list, a young Leo Decaprio as “the kid” and Sharon Stone as a gunslinger were moderately fun to watch, and Gene Hackman was of course the best actor in the cast.
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@approxinfinity never watched deadwood, will have to check it out. The quick and the dead is a decent one for sure, Hackman is underrated IMO. He can really take over a scene Mississippi Burning is one of my favorites of his.
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Also never visit the actual Deadwood. It’s a bunch of old building packed with slots.
Taylor Sheridan’s Hell or High Water is a great modern western. And how could we forget Blazing Saddles??
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@FarmerJayhawk blazing saddles is great for sure, saw a post on x the other day that said blazing saddles has had its run time cut to prevent offending people, official run time of 7 minutes and 8 seconds lol
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I’ll second Deadwood. It’s a masterpiece.
Something I find quite amusing is that a lot of Westerns were inspired by or were adaptations of Samurai movies and those Samurai movies were inspired by pulp novels. Truly full circle.
Must see samurai movies (keeping this spoiler free)
Yojimbo - chances are you’ve seen one or both of the main western adaptations of this movie. Those being Fistful of Dollars and Django (1966) which is admittedly a bit of a looser adaptation. Toho actually sued over Fistful of Dollars. The sequel Sanjuro doesn’t have as much of a “western” feel to it as it was an adaptation of another story where they then used the same character due to the popularity/success of Yojimbo. Desert Heat was a more modern adaptation of this movie. In any case it’s great and timeless.
Seven Samurai - US version is the Magnificent Seven which pales in comparison imo.
The Samurai Trilogy - carve out some time for this one. Covers the life and deeds of Miyamoto Musashi spanning 5 hours across 3 movies.
The Sword of Doom - This is one of my all time favorites. Was going to be a trilogy but unfortunately that did not materialize.
Three Outlaw Samurai - a Samurai western through and through, I don’t think it ever got any western adaptation but I really enjoyed this one.
Gate of Hell - one of my favorites from a lesser known director
Sansho the Bailiff - Not really a Samurai movie but it’s a great movie that I always recommend. A powerful film.
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I was just telling my Wife I feel like I know getting old because I dislike most music playing on the radio these days and I’d rather watch movies from the 80s and 90s. We will go to the Theater every now and again to watch. We will discuss it on the way home and most movies are just okay. I probably haven’t watched a movie made the last 10 years more than once. I love when a movie ends and you have to sit there for a minute to process what you just saw. Thats Cinema my friends, it just doesn’t happen much with new releases.
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@kjayhawks we are in the age of tv. Cinema hasnt been right since the 2000s.
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Swearengen!
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@approxinfinity said in Best Westerns (not Hotels):
@kjayhawks we are in the age of tv. Cinema hasnt been right since the 2000s.
Most of my favorite movies are from before I was born. Imo around 2005 or so movies have had a sharp drop off. I do still watch a fair number of newer movies so I’m not just saying this without having watched quite a bit.
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There are too many sequels and reboots IMO
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Some more Westerns
My Name is Nobody
Death Rides a Horse
Sabata
@FarmerJayhawk perfect example of this is Pirates of the Caribbean. First movie was a mostly fun standalone popcorn flick. Because it did well they had to make a bunch more that just kept getting worse.
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If anyone else here loves a good novel, Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry is excellent. The tv mini series by the same name is very good and well-acted too. Then the novel Blood Meridian is very powerful though too dark for some people.
As for movies, I really like Unforgiven.
When it comes to shows, Longmire is great once you get into season two. The novels it is based on are also great.
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This isnt a western, but maybe a midwestern: i felt season 5 of Fargo was outstanding, and checks many of the same boxes as a western.
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Also each season of Fargo is a stand alone story.
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@approxinfinity said in Best Westerns (not Hotels):
Deadwood is the best Western show I have ever seen. Ian Mcshane’s Al Swearingen is the absolute star.
Disclaimer: this show is not for the faint of heart, very raw and explicit.
Funny enough I’m in the Black Hills as we speak lol
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@Jhawk69 Lonesome Dove is terrific. We had it on VHS when I was a wee tot
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just because being such a huge Clint Eastwood fan mine has to be Pale Rider — - Josey Whales ,- -And not a Western but my favorite Eastwood hands down-- Gran Torino - -awesome show
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Shakiest Gun in the West
Support Your Local Sheriff
Blazing Saddles
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Silverado is one of the best westerns I have ever seen.
On TV, The Wild West was the most fun show of the 60’s slew of westerns. The movie version with Will Smith was appallingly bad.
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My favorites would include Dances with Wolves, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Outlaw Josey Wales, and Shane. I agree that Deadwood is a great show. I also enjoyed Hell on Wheels, a TV show from AMC, about building the Intercontinental Railroad.
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From the original post, I actually prefer the remake of True Grit over the original because I hated the Mattie character in the original and wanted her to die because she came across as such a whiny brat. I much preferred Hailee Steinfeld’s performance because she made Mattie more sympathetic and likeable.
